American Museum of Natural History Photo 2017-09-12 16:09

It's time for Trilobite Tuesday! Despite being covered in thick calcite carapaces, which often gave them the appearance of undersea battle tanks, trilobites were, in fact, rather delicately constructed creatures. Evidence of this apparent design “flaw” is pervasive throughout the fossil record, where disarticulated trilobite fragments, as seen in this Dalmaniites slab from Sweden, far outnumber the remains of complete specimens. In a number of fossiliferous biozones around the globe, including those in British Columbia, Morocco, and the Czech Republic, independent pygidia, cephala, and thoracic segments virtually litter the sedimentary strata…with often nary an articulated trilobite to be found.

That’s not seaweed or kelp you’re seeing. It’s one of nature’s most spectacularly camouflaged animals: the leafy seadragon, Phycodurus eques. This fish lives in seagrass meadows and seaweed beds, and ..

These well-camouflaged ostrich chicks blend into their surroundings, and they usually have a powerful parent protecting them, too. An adult ostrich attacks only if threatened, but then it can kick har..